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Water, Ecology, and the Jordan River in Islam

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Water, Ecology, and the Jordan River in Islam RIVER OUT OF EDEN: WATER, ECOLOGY, AND THE JORDAN RIVER IN ISLAM ECOPEACE / FRIENDS OF THE EARTH MIDDLE EAST (FOEME) SECOND EDITION, JUNE 2014 © Jos Van Wunnik COVENANT FOR THE JORDAN RIVER We recognize that the Jordan River Valley is that cripples the growth of an economy a landscape of outstanding ecological and based on tourism, and that exacerbates the cultural importance. It connects the eco- political conflicts that divide this region. It systems of Africa and Asia, forms a sanctuary also exemplifies a wider failure to serve as for wild plants and animals, and has witnessed custodians of the planet: if we cannot protect a some of the most significant advances in place of such exceptional value, what part of the human history. The first people ever to leave earth will we hand on intact to our children? Africa walked through this valley and drank from its springs. Farming developed on these We have a different vision of this valley: a vision plains, and in Jericho we see the origins of in which a clean, living river flows from the Sea urban civilization itself. Not least, the river runs of Galilee to the Dead Sea; in which the valley’s through the heart of our spiritual traditions: plants and animals are afforded the water they some of the founding stories of Judaism, need to flourish; in which the springs flow as Christianity, and Islam are set along its banks they have for millennia; and in which the water and the valley contains sites sacred to half extracted for human use is divided equitably of humanity. By any measure, this landscape between the nations that share the valley and must be counted as part of the heritage of the people who live here. humankind. Realizing this vision will not be easy. But But over the past 50 years, the Lower Jordan difficulty cannot be an excuse for inaction. We River has been destroyed. 96% of its historic therefore call upon the governments of the flow has been diverted. What little water countries that share this watershed to make a remains is polluted with saline and effluent, serious commitment of resources and political including untreated sewage. The valley’s capital to the rehabilitation of the Jordan River. wetlands have dried up, its springs are failing, As individuals and organizations, as members and half its biodiversity has been lost. This is of civil society, and as religious or community not just a tragedy for wildlife: families have leaders, we also affirm that this is a landscape seen their fields turn to dust, not from a lack of of universal ecological, cultural, and spiritual water but from the injustice of its distribution. importance, and commit to work towards the The demise of the Jordan and the collapse of the vision expressed in this covenant. valley’s eco-system represents a failure of our most basic responsibility towards the species whose habitats have been destroyed and the ecological systems that sustain life on earth. It is a neglect that leaves us impoverished, Dear Friends, This is a toolkit of information to help Islamic communities around the world learn about the contemporary reality the Holy Jordan River and join in efforts to rehabilitate the once mighty Jordan. At the beginning of the booklet you will find background information describing the demise of the Jordan River, what went wrong and why it matters to our community. The second section includes a compilation of writings about the Jordan River in the Muslim tradition, about the sacredness of water, and about the connection between spiritual faith and care for the natural world. Three specially commissioned pieces of writing about the state of the river and about the role of the Muslim community in its rehabilitation are also included. You are welcome to use these works as the basis for your own presentations or sermons, or to adapt them to suit your audience. You will also find scriptural texts, prayers, and essays. Section three includes sample lesson plans and questions to assist community educators in designing programs for a wide range of age groups on this issue. Finally, we’ve prepared some suggestions for how your community can support regional efforts to rehabilitate the Jordan River by taking action to let decision makers know that we care about the revitalization of the Jordan. Additional resources to support awareness campaigns and plan visits to the river are available at www.SavetheJordan.com. We encourage you to treat this as a working document: to annotate it, to select what is most illuminating for your own teaching, and to enrich it through your own knowledge and insight. We hope that these materials inspire your congregation or class to join in the campaign to revive the Jordan River. With gratitude, EcoPeace / Friends of the Earth Middle East June 2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS Covenant for the Jordan River 3 I. BACKGROUND 11 A Man-Made Disaster 13 A Source of Life 14 A Blessed Land 15 An Ecosystem Destroyed 16 The Destruction of the Jordan Some Facts and Figures 17 A Failure of Wisdom 18 A New Vision of the Valley 20 A Measure of Progress 21 Justice, Peace, Prosperity 22 Reviving the Jordan 23 II. WATER, ECOLOGY, AND THE JORDAN RIVER IN ISLAM 25 Islam, Muslims and the Jordan River Imam Zaid Shakir 26 Reviving the Jordan: A Challenge for Young Muslims Dr. Husna Ahmed 28 Protecting the Jordan River Prof. Mustafa Abu Sway 33 7 Water in the Holy Quran 34 Care for the Earth in Hadith and Sunna 35 RIVER OUT OF EDEN The Jordan Valley in Islamic History 36 Other Quotes on Water and Creation 37 Declarations and Essays on Islam and Ecology 38 The Islamic Declaration on Sustainable Development 41 Islam and Water Management:Overview and Principles Naser I. Faruqui 42 III. EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES 45 Rationalization of Water and Waste 46 Lessons That Can Help You 48 IV. IDEAS FOR COMMUNITY ACTION 53 V. CREDITS 57 I. BacKGROUND The Jordan River has suffered an ecological collapse. What went wrong and why it matters to our community. © Francesco Zizzola A MAN-MADE DISASTER For thousands of years the Jordan River brought life to one of the cultural heartlands of the Islamic world. Today, the river has been all but destroyed. 96% of its flow has been diverted. What little water remains is polluted with saline and untreated sewage. The valley’s wetlands have dried up, its springs are failing, and half its biodiversity has been lost. This is a man-made disaster – one that shows an utter disregard for the natu- ral world, for our own spiritual tradition, and for our responsibility as custodi- ans of God’s earth. 13 It’s not too late. Eco-Peace / Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) asks you to join us in calling for a return of water to this river, and a return of life to the Jordan Valley. RIVER OUT OF EDEN “By any measure – ecological, cultural, spiritual - this river must be counted as part of the heritage of humankind, and as a place of exceptional importance to Muslims.” alan / FoEME K © Jonathan A SOURCE OF LIFE Imagine the River Jordan. into Lake Tiberius, and then meandered more villages to develop into the world’s first real one of the first to accept Islam and later slowly along the length of the Jordan Valley towns, Jericho among them. Jericho’s walls supreme commander of the Arab armies under In the mind’s eye we see a great river – a river until it disappeared into the intensely saline were built some 10,000 years ago, and it can Caliph Umar; Bilal bin Rabah, who served as that brings life to al ard al muqadasa - the Holy lake of the Dead Sea – the lowest point on the claim to be the oldest continuously inhabited mu’azin to the Prophet (SAAS); Dirar bin Al- Land - described in the Quran as the “land that surface of the earth. city anywhere in the world. Azwar, an early Companion and renowned We had blessed for the worlds” (Quran, 21:71). warrior; and Sharhabil Bin Hassneh, among All along the way, the Jordan River brought the most trusted of the Prophet’s (SAAS) We know that this river is important in the life to the valley. It created wetland habitats A Blessed LAND Companions and, according to some, one of the stories of the Prophets Yusha Ibn Nun (Joshua) in which wild plants and animals flourished. scribes of the Holy Quran. and Yahya Ibn Zakariya (John the Baptist) and It greened a corridor through the desert, The Jordan Valley has been central to Muslim Isa (Jesus) – peace be upon them all – and that connecting the eco-systems of Eastern Africa history and culture since the time of Islam’s many of the closest Companions of the Prophet and Western Asia and forming a flyway used by expansion under Caliph Umar. Mohammed (SAAS) are also buried in the valley, some 500 million migratory birds each year. And to the east of the Jordan. it allowed the flourishing of human life and the It was here that the Muslim armies, including emergence of urban civilization. many who had known the Prophet (SAAS), This is a river, then, that flows through the heart fought one of the decisive battles at Fahl (Pella) of the Islamic world. It is a river of life. Some of the first people ever to leave Africa in 635 CE. Some of the closest Companions of walked across this plain and drank from its the Prophet (SAAS) are buried on the Jordanian 15 side of the river.
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